Negotiation

The surrounding scenery was very strange.

It was a chaotic mass, resembling the form of Great One), as deep and mysterious as the darkest abyss. The sun and moon had no brilliance, the Eight Trigrams had no spirit, Yin and Yang could not be separated, the four poles could not be divided, and the whole had no direction or rules.

The vast expanse of heaven and earth was shrouded in dust, a hazy fog hung in the air, and thick clouds billowed. Apart from a few candles that illuminated a patch of open space where things could be seen, everything else was completely obscured.

Li Qi touched his equipment.

His original clothes were gone, and he had changed into a simple white robe.

The longsword is gone. It seems that you can't bring physical objects in here, so the clothes have all been changed, and the longsword can't be brought in either.

However... the willow branches are still there.

As expected of a gift left by the Great Shaman, it's truly amazing.

Holding the willow branch tied around his waist, Li Qi's courage grew considerably.

He adjusted his belt, took two steps forward, and walked up to the "ghost".

"What was the name of this deceased person?" Li Qi asked.

At this moment, in this space established by the power of the altar and Sacrificial Ritual, the Shaman can communicate with the spirits and deities.

To outsiders, Li Qi just looks like he's rolling his eyes, or maybe he's doing some kind of shamanistic ritual.

To outsiders, Shamanic Priest often appear to be crazy, mostly for this reason, since at this moment they are practically "out of their minds."

"Just call me Elder Li." The ghost was surprisingly lucid and answered Li Qi's question clearly.

"My name is Li Qi. I didn't expect we share the same surname. Maybe we were family five hundred years ago." Li Qi smiled and began to try to get closer to Li Qi.

But the other party wasn't buying it. Instead, he said directly, "You are Shaman from Wushen Mountain. Out of respect for Wushen Mountain, I've shown myself to you for a chat. What do you want to say? Are you trying to persuade me to forgive that brat who dug up my grave and disturbed my peace?"

"No, I'm here mainly to help you," Li Qi said, cupping his hands in greeting.

Then he continued, "The deceased has not yet returned and cannot find peace, yet he has managed to maintain his sanity. Perhaps due to physical defects, he is merely being kept alive by the good water of this blessed land, enduring the agony."

"As Shaman, it is my duty to seek blessings for the spirits and gods of the world. If I am not mistaken, the deceased was angry that his 'yin and yang in harmony, the five elements and four elements in balance' had been broken by a few hoes, so he went to the trouble of casting Curse to vent his anger."

"So, the reason I came here is to understand the sorrow of the deceased. I have prepared the finest Yin Wood, and all that is needed is for a craftsman to carve it, to fill the body of the deceased with the wood, and then to infuse it with the Great Forest Wood Qi, so as to make up for the deceased's regrets. Is this possible to appease the deceased's regrets and relieve their sorrow?" Li Qi asked, cupping his hands.

As he spoke, he channeled the Great Forest Wood Qi to his fingertips, revealing abundant vitality.

Carving a wooden body is a common method to make up for the shortcomings of the deceased.

For example, the Book of Tang records. "On the night of the eighteenth of the tenth month, thieves broke into the residence of the Grand Tutor, killed the Grand Tutor, and took his head and arm away. An imperial edict ordered a wooden head to be carved and buried, and he was posthumously awarded the title of Grand Tutor."

Li Fuguo was assassinated, and his head was missing. So, a piece of wood was carved to represent his head for burial, and he was posthumously awarded the title of Grand Tutor.

For example, the Book of Qi records. "On the day of Jia Yin, in the fifth month of summer, there was a great drought. A dead demon was found in Jinyang. It was two feet long and had two eyes on its face and top. When the emperor heard of this, he carved a wooden figure of it and presented it to the emperor."

This means that in the fifth month of summer in the year Jia Yin, a severe drought occurred. In Jinyang, the corpse of a drought demon was discovered. It was two feet long, with a pair of eyes on each side of its face. Upon hearing this, the emperor ordered that the corpse of the drought demon be carved from wood and sent away.

The biographies also state. "There was a man named Wang Qiao whose whole family was captured. No matter what he did, he could not find the bodies of his family members. So he carved wooden figures to summon their souls for burial and erected a shrine with their portraits."

However, for this method to be effective, it ultimately requires the qi in the wood to replace the Five Constant Energies in the body of the deceased. Therefore, it has many requirements for the wood, and there are many taboos and rules during the carving process. Finally, it requires Shaman ceremony to be performed for it to be effective. So ordinary people cannot use this method at all.

But isn't this just a coincidence?

Li Qi, although not yet a graded individual, is definitely a genuine Wushen Mountain Shaman.

"... Even if you carve my body from Yin Wood, they still ruined my tomb. Are you just going to let it go like that?" the ghost said ominously.

"Then, did the deceased have any requests?" Li Qi asked, neither humble nor arrogant.

"I want them to be buried with me! Aren't you Shaman from Wushen Mountain? Use their entire family's lives to perform a Blood Sacrifice for me, and this matter will be settled. I will then offer you a gift and protect you as a ghost." The ghost said.

Upon hearing this, Li Qi frowned, then smiled and said casually, "You probably don't know much about the deceased Shaman."

"I have heard that the Grand Shaman charge of the nine sacrifices and the six ritual implements. The six ritual implements are: the Azure Jade Disc, the Yellow Tube, the Green Tablet, the Red Tiger Tablet, the White Tiger, and the black Black Jasper."

"The nine sacrifices are: first, the command; second, the extension; third, the cannon; fourth, the temple; fifth, the shaking; sixth, the shaking; seventh, the severance; eighth, the burning; and ninth, the communal."

Li Qi spoke eloquently, then changed the subject. "But I've never heard of... anything called 'Blood Sacrifice'."

The atmosphere suddenly turned cold.

The ghost clearly stopped moving.

However, after a few seconds, he replied, though his tone was somewhat cold, saying, "I don't blame you for your lack of skill in the art of Shaman. Think about it carefully. Although I don't know what blessing is, I do know that the Shaman Path says: ' Blood Sacrifice is the source of vital energy. Sacrificing the lungs, liver, and heart is the source of noble energy.' Isn't that what it means to Blood Sacrifice?"

Li Qi's heart tightened; he hadn't expected the other party to be so knowledgeable as to know these things!

This passage means that Blood Sacrifice is to extract the vigorous life force of blood, and using the lungs, liver, and heart as offerings to the gods shows that they are valued as organs that generate life force.

This is no ordinary visitor; this ghost might actually be an eighth-rank official.

But he remained calm and replied, "However, the deceased is gone, what use is your anger to them? The Book of Rites also says: 'Offer Millet and Grains, and sacrifices of Pure Water, to Repaying Yin.' This is more appropriate for the deceased. Why not use this to make up for it?"

This statement reverses the other party's statement.

When the other party proposed a blood sacrifice, Li Qi immediately retorted, saying that using millet and sorghum as offerings, along with five kinds of herbs and clear water, was a way to repay the yin energy.

In short, Blood Sacrifice is impossible, but I can add another layer of protection to the condition of carving a wooden body for you, using a sacrifice to repay the Yin Qi to help you recover.

After all, the fact that the deceased is considered a spirit already shows a great deal of sincerity.

"... Little Shaman, you are no match for me. Do you really want to be my enemy for the sake of these gravediggers?" The ghost stopped being coy and said directly.

Li Qi's expression also darkened. "Deceased, I once heard a fifth-rank master say that Shaman is someone who mediates the conflicts between humans and gods, and between Human-Ghost. Is your conflict really so great that it needs to be paid for with blood?"

As Li Qi spoke, he subtly mentioned his background, intimidating the other party.

After all, Shen Shuibi is also a fifth-rank official, right?